Defense counsel rests case in Chhabra trial

Defense attorney Brian Drew rested his side of the Dr. Johendra Chhabra case in White County Circuit Court Friday afternoon.Chhabra is accused of groping a then-23-year-old patient at his clinic in Norris City in December 2011.Closing arguments are set for 9 a.m. Monday (today) and the jury is expected to begi...

Defense attorney Brian Drew rested his side of the Dr. Johendra Chhabra case in White County Circuit Court Friday afternoon.

Chhabra is accused of groping a then-23-year-old patient at his clinic in Norris City in December 2011.

Closing arguments are set for 9 a.m. Monday (today) and the jury is expected to begin their deliberations following each attorney's argument. The State is represented by White County State's Attorney Denton Aud.

Jury selection began Tuesday and testimony was offered by a number of witnesses from Wednesday morning until Friday afternoon. Judge Mark Stanley dismissed the jury after the defense rested around 3:15 Friday afternoon and told them to be back at 9 a.m. Monday for closing arguments.

The defense put on all its witnesses Friday. Defense witnesses included Chhabra's wife, receptionist, a few patients of the doctor's, an incarcerated woman who said the alleged victim offered her a bribe to lie to investigators and the defense also recalled Illinois State Police Special Agent Rick White, the lead investigator in the case.

The doctor's wife testified that she rides to and from work most days with her husband and performs a number of duties in the office, including janitorial work and sometimes assisting with patients, such as being in exam rooms when female patients are examined.

She testified she was not in the office on the day of the alleged incident.

A patient, identified as Myra Jones, testified she was in the Norris City clinic on the day of the alleged offense and sat in an exam room with an open door during the time of the alleged incident. The exam room was diagonally opposite from the office.

Jones said she heard nothing out of the ordinary, though admitted under cross she could not see into the office from her vantage point.

She did say she glanced inside the office on her way to the exam room and saw a female inside the office. Through testimony, Drew was able to show the jury the female she saw had to have been the alleged victim.

Jones also testified that when Chhabra went to his office to meet with the woman she had seen that the doctor was only gone a short amount of time and showed no signs of having just been involved in a struggle.

Paula Johnson, who is currently incarcerated on meth-related charges, testified that she had known the alleged victim for seven or eight years prior to the alleged incident and worked for the alleged victim's mother in a business operated by the mother.

She said they were friends and the alleged victim had texted her either during the night after the alleged incident or the next night. The text message, she said, offered her $2,000 to lie to Rick White. The State argued during cross the text also said she was going to sue the doctor "for attacking me."

Page 2 of 2 - Court records in Williamson County indicate the alleged victim did file a civil lawsuit against the doctor following the alleged incident, however, the Metropolis attorney representing the alleged victim filed a motion to withdraw from the case in October 2012 and a judge granted the motion in December, citing a "want of prosecution."

Agent White's appearance on the stand was brief but he conformed under direct examination he had not interviewed anyone in the case except for the alleged victim and the doctor. He did add he had spoken with the receptionist briefly and testified she had said the alleged victim left without speaking to anyone in the reception area.

He also testified he had not observed any injures to the alleged victim's head where she claimed about 20 hairs had been pulled from her head by the doctor during the alleged incident.

Kara Ingram, the receptionist, testified the alleged victim was "scantily" dressed when she came to the office the day of the alleged incident and stopped and talked to her at the reception desk before she left the clinic.

Ingram said the alleged victim did stop and talk on her way out of the office, asking if she was "good to go?" Ingram said she told her she was and made eye contact with her. She said her clothes were not disheveled, her hair was not mussed, her makeup was not smeared or running and she had no injuries to her lip.

Another patient in the office on the date in question testified she was also examined by the doctor in the moments after the alleged incident and saw nothing wrong with him. She also said she previously lived in McLeansboro and that was when she began seeing the doctor for treatment but had since moved to West Frankfort. When asked why she still sees the doctor she said it was because she likes him and described him with many positive attributes.